Earthwire

The United Nations issues its first resolution against the illegal wildlife trade. -

Amid the global outcry over #CecilTheLion, the U.N. is calling for its member states to beef up anti-poaching and trafficking laws to protect lions—as well as elephants, rhinos, tigers, bears, gorillas, pangolins, and humans victims of the terrorists and organized crime rings running much of the industry. Reuters

Offshore wind power in Europe just broke its yearly record—in just six months. -

Thanks to 584 newly connected turbines, the industry's generating capacity is now 10 gigawatts, enough juice for 7 million homes. Germany installed most of the new capacity, beating out the United Kingdom (current industry leader) by a factor of three. The Guardian

Thanks to pressure from the bottled-water industry, Congress is threatening to cut Park Service funding for water-refilling stations. Go ahead, say the parks, we're sick of the litter, and we know how to make a buck or two... Washinton Post

They are creating a human barricade so that the Shell icebreaker cannot get through.

Annie Leonard, the executive director of Greenpeace U.S., describing the scene on Portland, Oregon's Willamette River, where 13 Arctic drilling protesters are rappelling off a bridge over a flotilla of kayaktivists. Hang in there...it's working!

Hot water has killed half of the Columbia River's sockeye salmon. -

Earlier this year, officials counted 507,000 fish at the beginning of their migration between two dams in the river, but so far, only 272,000 have made the trip. Warm air and abnormally low snowmelt have packed a double whammy to river temperatures—the Columbia hit 70 degrees in mid-June, a month earlier than usual. Reuters

Oklahoma is getting shaken by more drilling-linked earthquakes. -

Three quakes measuring above magnitude 4.0 rattled the state Monday. Since 2013, the rate of earthquakes in the Sooner State has gone up by about 50 percent, and noticeable tremors—above 3.0—now rumble about twice day. Reuters

Cat owners don't think their pets are a threat to wildlife. -

A British survey found that owners underestimated just how many small animals their outdoor cats kill. When owners were told the felines take a toll on native biodiversity, they still weren't willing to keep Fluffy indoors during prime hunting hours (even though it's safer for the kitties, too). New York Times

North America breaks ground on its first offshore wind farm. -

Today, Deepwater Wind will begin working on the foundations for five turbines three miles off the coast of Block Island, Rhode Island. The farm should be up and whirring by the end of next year and could pave the way for other offshore projects—which have so far been a tough sell in the United States.Reuters